Quote:
Originally posted by bonehelm
anyone know what caused the coke to "shoot" ? |
Soda get its fizz from a gas known as carbon dioxide. When the carbon dioxide is pumped into the soda, water molecules cling to the gas and create tiny bubbles of gas in the liquid. The force holding the gas inside the water is known as surface tension.
It takes a lot of energy to break the surface tension inside soda, but most of you have probably done this by dropping a can and opening it shortly afterwards.
Mentos contains a chemical known as ARABIC GUM, this is the ingredient that makes the mint "chewy". This ingredient causes the surface tension of the water molecules to break even more easily, releasing more carbon dioxide gas at an astounding rate!
The gas causes pressure to rapidly build inside the bottle which thrusts the soda upwards in a wonderful fountain-like BLAST!